Yes, some parents think it is insane --- sheer madness for some. When I define travelling with a toddler, I mean travelling OVERSEAS by plane. Yes, by plane and not by train or by boat. By plane.
Some of you are already gasping in horror. I know of mothers who dare not step out of the house with their 2 year old unless a grandparent or domestic helper assists. But then again, I, Daddy of my 2 year old son, have had prior experience venturing out alone with the kid to faraway places...err...well...if you consider taking a public bus 6 stops away to Orchard Road and having breakfast with him at McDonalds...yeah, I qualify.
Or wait, wait, wait...there was this time I drove to Sentosa with him and we viewed the flower show together--- alone, without any assistance.
The Wife looks at me and gives me the look that translates as 'LAME' --- bring a boy to a FLOWER SHOW??
Eh? At least I tried right?
So those were some of the prior experiences I've had travelling with my boy. But what about flying to Los Angeles which is about 21 hours away --- including a stopover in Tokyo?
Now we're talking.
The Wife and I felt that we had to put our minds into strategy --- not so much for the kid, but more for the preservation of our sanity. What time should we depart Singapore? What should we do on the plane? Will he play with the games on KrisWorld's entertainment system? Does SIA have 'Barney and Friends' on-demand? Yes --- call SIA and find out of they have 'Barney and Friend's. So what's keep-him-occupied-activity-Plan A? Plan B? What if we exhaust all options? What if he cries when everyone is trying to sleep? Will they kick us out of the plane for a noisy kid? Will they give us a parachute if they kick us out of the plane?
The long and short of it --- we decided to fork out a little bit more to do the following:
Stopover in Tokyo
No kidding. This was a life saver. It helped us all recuperate faster from any potential or actual jet lag. Sure, we forked out an extra couple of hundreds of dollars for each plane ticket, had a total of 3 nights accommodation at Japanese hotels, but it was worth it. We got to see Tsukiji Fish Market all over again --- thanks to my jet lagged boy kicking us out of our slumbers at 5am. Where could we do at 5am in the morning with a jet lagged toddler anyways?The bonus --- we had great sushi for breakfast. Itadakimasu!
Buy a full seat on the plane
Yeah, we could have put him in the bassinet on the plane and got him on the plane free --- if he is under 2 years old, which technically at the time of travel, he was. But it would have been terribly uncomfortable for him. Size was a factor. Also, imagining taking him out of the bassinet everytime the plane hits turbulence? Nope, get him a seat --- 75% of full adult price.
Make Play Dough
The Wife found this recipe mixing flour and cream of tartar to make play dough to bring onto the plane. I was concerned. For a moment, it looked like Semtex --- you know, the stuff that looks like plasticine and can be used as an explosive?
"You think they will let us onto the plane?" I asked my wife looking at her kneading the putty looking stuff. "I mean, the US customs might just freak out and put our poor 2 year old kid on the Terror Watch List."
I got the same 'LAME' look (pls refer to the part above on FLOWER SHOW).
But yeah, it was quite ingenious of her, and it worked wonders on the kid.
Bring lotsa diapers
The airlines do provide some complimentary diapers for kids (I mean, if they carry diapers...I mean, pads, for ladies, diapers for babies are a no brainer, right?), you should be ready to haul a decent number onto the plane --- my kid poos 5 times a day. You get the picture. As for changing the kid in toilet, that's a whole new ball game altogether. In short, if you are Asian, not too tall, not too fat, you would both fit in to tag team a diaper change in the plane toilets. Where to throw the diapers? Hell no, not down the toilet bowl! You could cause the plane to nose dive and then there will be decompression and those dangly oxygen masks will start falling in front of your face --- all because of some crap. Do the right thing --- put it into an air sickness bag and bin it.
In short, we survived the travelling. The Wife did a great job of explaining to the kid that we were going onto the plane (the open air aeroplane viewing gallery at Narita airport really helps, but what a potential terrorist launch point), the singing and the reading of story books...we all did not get to sleep much. But for seeing the joy on our kid's grandparents' faces...priceless.